statsman88 wrote:if you get a ball signed at a ballgame, is there any way to get a COA?

I figured I'd share what I have learnt since I started this thread.

Just because a seller on ebay guarantees a COA and has good feedback, doesn't mean that it is legitimate. Plenty of ebay sellers have been busted for selling fakes, although their feedback was extremely high - it's usually the customer service aspect under review (how quickly the item arrived, its condition etc), the customer doesn't even suspect a fake autograph.

Apparently, if you get an item signed, you can have it authenticated by companies like Steiner Sports etc and they will give it the tick of approval and give you a COA. They claim to have technology that helps them do it - but really, if a player is in a hurry and does a bad signature, it might not come up as authentic, and it's your loss.

I guess there really isn't ever any way of knowing. The conclusion that I have come to is that if someone is willing to pay 'x' amount of money for a signature, fake or real, then that is what the ball is worth. It's sad, but the harsh reality.

statsman88 wrote:if you get a ball signed at a ballgame, is there any way to get a COA?

I figured I'd share what I have learnt since I started this thread.

Just because a seller on ebay guarantees a COA and has good feedback, doesn't mean that it is legitimate. Plenty of ebay sellers have been busted for selling fakes, although their feedback was extremely high - it's usually the customer service aspect under review (how quickly the item arrived, its condition etc), the customer doesn't even suspect a fake autograph.

Apparently, if you get an item signed, you can have it authenticated by companies like Steiner Sports etc and they will give it the tick of approval and give you a COA. They claim to have technology that helps them do it - but really, if a player is in a hurry and does a bad signature, it might not come up as authentic, and it's your loss.

I guess there really isn't ever any way of knowing. The conclusion that I have come to is that if someone is willing to pay 'x' amount of money for a signature, fake or real, then that is what the ball is worth. It's sad, but the harsh reality.

interesting...I'm not really into autographs but ebay seems a little sketchy to buy them on and I love ebay